1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical mounting for an optical component and more particularly to a high-precision optical mounting.
2. Discussion of Relevant Prior Art
Particularly high requirements are placed on optical mountings for satellite-borne systems. Low weight and high mechanical and thermal loading are required, with precise, stress-free mounting of the optical components. Examples of known solutions in this field of use are given in German Patent DE 296 03 024.4 U, and the state of the art cited therein.
Another field with particularly high requirements is microlithography. The projection exposure systems require the closest tolerances and the smallest strains, even in the presence of thermal effects, in order to attain extremes of imaging quality.
Metallic mountings are usually used in both fields of application, and are produced by machining in the broadest sense, including erosion, water-stream cutting, grinding, laser ablation and the like. Spring hinges and beams are then used in many variants as decoupling elements.
Galvanoplasty is a known technique for the production of thin-walled precision parts, even mirror optics, for example. Metal, usually aluminum or nickel or their alloys, is electrolytically deposited on a mold core that has been made electrically conductive with a thin layer. After the desired thickness has been reached, the galvanoplastic part is released from the mold core, using a difference in thermal expansion.
It is known from East German Patent DD 204 320 A to provide a lens with a positively fitting ring by galvanoplastic means, the ring being finish-turned for the centering of the lens and having surfaces by means of which the lens is received in a mounting. The closed ring, when thermally loaded, inevitably leads to stresses in the lens, due to the different thermal expansion.